


Falling Through the Ice

by Kiraly



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-03 00:24:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10955856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiraly/pseuds/Kiraly
Summary: A winter vacation takes an unexpected turn when Yuri has a run-in with a not-so-frozen pond. Luckily, Otabek is there to help.





	Falling Through the Ice

**Author's Note:**

> It's been too long since I got to write a "characters get soaked and have to cuddle for warmth" fic, and since I haven't written one of those for YOI yet, I decided to remedy that. Of course, I _would_ decide to do this when the temperature is around 86F/30C, haha.
> 
> This takes place a few years after canon (season 1) because I like the idea of Otabek and Yuri being friends for a few years before they admit to romantic feelings.
> 
> Also, I have no idea why they're taking a vacation in what is probably the middle of the figure skating season, so just...roll with it.

Yuri Plisetsky loved the ice, and the ice loved him. The gold medals hanging on his wall proved that. So he couldn't understand why the ice would betray him like this.

_ "Yura! Hang on!"  _

The vacation had been going more or less okay, too. Sure, it was stupid to rent a cabin in the middle of winter, and even more idiotic to agree to any plan cooked up by Victor and Katsudon. At first he'd refused, knowing that if he was stuck with the two of them in an enclosed space for a whole week, he'd probably murder one or both of them. But Victor had made promises and puppy-dog eyes, and Yuuri kept dropping bits of information about this so-called cabin. Which turned out to be less of a rustic shack and more of a small house, complete with a roaring fireplace in addition to central heating and real plumbing. Best of all, it boasted its own private pond, which according to the brochure would freeze smooth enough for skating.

All of which sounded nice—or it would, if it involved better company. Which was probably why Yuuri waved one final carrot beneath Yuri's nose.

"There's plenty of space for more people, Yurio," he'd said, as though just remembering. "We've asked a couple of friends, but all of them have other plans. So if you know of anyone else who might like to join us, feel free to invite them." 

Victor, far less subtle, had helpfully chimed in with, "You could bring Otabek! Hasn't he been meaning to visit? It’ll be like a week-long double date!"

Yuri had growled and sworn and chased the two of them around the rink, but in the end he'd made the offer over Skype. When the appointed day arrived, they met Otabek at the airport in a luggage-stuffed car and drove off to the woods.

_ This is the worst fucking idea those idiots have ever had. Unless this was their plan all along? Maybe they meant to get some of the competition out of the way... _

_ "Yura, stay with me! I've got you, you'll be safe soon." _

The luxury cabin was everything Yuuri had promised. It boasted a generous common area, with soft rugs thrown over hardwood floors and squashy chairs pulled up next to the fireplace. Fortunately for Yuri's gag reflex, the bedrooms were on opposite sides of the building, and the walls were thick. He wouldn't have to hear whatever Victor and Katsudon decided to get up to, and if he and Otabek wanted to stay up talking half the night, no one could complain. The private bathrooms were a nice bonus.

All in all, it should have been a perfect vacation.

_ So damn cold. This isn't what I meant when I told them to call me the Ice Tiger. I'm supposed to be on the other side, not down in the water. _

_ "Yura. Thank god, you're still—can you hear me? Let's get you somewhere warm." _

But of course, there was no way to have a perfect vacation when Victor Nikiforov was around. By the second day, Yuri had gotten so annoyed by his constant cooing over Katsudon—among other things—that he couldn't spend another second in the cabin. He'd snatched up his skates and stalked off to find out if the pond was any good.

Of course, Otabek came after him. The two of them had been friends for years, and by now Otabek always seemed to know what Yuri was feeling, even if he'd gotten a little better at controlling his temper. So Otabek kept quiet as they approached the frozen pond, waiting for Yuri to speak.

"They just...Victor pisses me off  _ so much,  _ Beka!" Yuri flopped down on the wooden bench by the edge of the pond and started to unlace his boots. "He never shuts up, and he and Katsudon are all over each other, and he keeps making little comments—"

"Comments?" Of course Otabek wouldn't have noticed those, or pretended not to for the sake of decorum. Over the past year or so, every time Otabek was around—or even if Yuri mentioned him, which happened pretty often because they were  _ friends _ , dammit—Victor had gotten a smug little smile on his face. As if that wasn't bad enough, he started  _ saying  _ things, too. "Oh, Otabek will be at the Rostelecom Cup? That's nice, it's so cute when the two of you compete against each other"; "You're busy tonight? Of course, a skype date with Otabek! I wouldn't want to get in the way of that"; and of course the classic "Have you talked to your boyfriend recently, Yurio?" All of which made Yuri want to yell in his face and kick him halfway to Japan, but getting upset only made Victor smile more. The final straw came that morning, when Victor had asked how Yuri slept—and then, without missing a beat, asked if he and Otabek were using separate beds, or sharing. 

But he wasn't going to tell Otabek about  _ that,  _ obviously. It was none of Victor's business, but Otabek might have felt the need to point out that technically they  _ had  _ shared a bed, because they'd been watching a movie on Yuri's laptop and Otabek hadn't wanted to move Yuri when he'd fallen asleep halfway through.

_ It's not like we're like...like Victor and Katsudon. We aren't boyfriends. We just...really like each other... _

_ "Yura, you're babbling. Stay with me, we'll be there soon." _

"Just Victor being Victor," he told Otabek. It pretty much explained everything. "He says all kinds of dumb shit."

No matter how dumb it was though, Yuri couldn't get Victor's words out of his head. Even the ice, which usually gave him something better to focus on, was not enough. He  _ liked  _ what he had with Otabek. They'd been through a lot—or at least, Otabek had put up with a lot from Yuri over the years—and he didn't want to lose that. But a small, treacherous part of him also really liked falling asleep with his head on Otabek's chest, and wondered what it would be like to kiss him. And he couldn't do anything about it, especially not with Victor 'love-on-the-ice' Nikiforov around.

So Yuri threw himself into skating, trying to find the peace that the ice usually brought him. Instead, he found a weak patch in the middle of the pond.

It was a shock, plunging through the hole and into the water. At first he was too surprised to do anything, but then instinct kicked in and he grabbed for the edge before his skates and heavy coat could pull him down. The ice snapped under his hands, and he floundered, flailing to find purchase, something solid that would keep him above the water. He reached again, and again, and was about to sink below the surface for good when strong arms grabbed his and pulled.

"Beka!" He choked the name out with a mouthful of water.

"Yura! Hang on!"

From there, things got hazy. He was cold, so cold, and then he couldn't feel much of anything which was both better and worse. Otabek's voice kept up a steady stream of conversation, alternately reassuring Yuri and begging him to stay awake. Yuri wasn't sure why he should bother staying awake, when Otabek was carrying him and it felt so nice to just rest his head on Otabek's chest and close his eyes. But he did his best, even when other, more annoying voices joined in.

_ "Oh my god, what happened? Yurio!" _

_ "Get his skates off, we have to get him warm—" _

_ "Close the door, Victor, I'll get the skates—and yours, Otabek, did you really walk all the way from the pond in them?" _

_ "Should we put him by the fire? Or no, I'll run a hot bath, that—" _

_ "Not a hot one! Lukewarm water, or you'll shock him." _

_ "He should go to a hospital—" _

_ "We're too far, it will take too long—" _

_ "Stay with me, Yura. It'll be okay. This might hurt a little."  _

And it did hurt when they put him in the water—why were they putting him in water? He'd gotten out, he'd worked so hard to get back on the ice, and now—

_ "Stay still! This will warm you up, but you have to stay—" _

_ "I still say we should call a hospital, even if they—" _

_ "Victor, if you can't calm down, get out." _

_ "Come on, Vitya. We'll make some tea. Otabek, call if you need us." _

The voices subsided, and the world cleared a little. He was wet, and shivering, but he wasn't numb anymore—the tingling in his fingers and toes proved that. He was in a bathtub full of water, still half-dressed. And Otabek was there, talking softly and pulling on his shirt.

"I think you'll feel better if you take it off, Yura. The rest, too, if you can manage. Victor and Yuuri are gone for now, you don't have to worry about them."

Yuri blinked. "Beka?" The words coming out of his mouth weren't making sense. "Why am I in the bathtub with my clothes on?"

Otabek stopped pulling at the shirt for long enough to look Yuri in the eyes. "Do you remember falling through the ice, Yura?" Worry marred his usually serene face. Yuri wanted to reshape it with his hands, smooth out the crease in Otabek's forehead until he looked like he normally did. He managed to get his fingers as far as Otabek's cheek before he realized he'd been asked a question.

"Oh. Right. I was skating, and then...it was cold." He shivered just thinking about it, and once he started shivering he couldn't seem to stop. "Beka, I—"

"Shh, it's okay," Otabek brushed a strand of hair out of Yuri's eyes. "You're still warming up, this is normal."

"How would you know?" God, it was unfair for Otabek to look so hot right now, with his hair all messed up and his eyes boring into Yuri's soul. Unfair because Yuri felt like crap, and there were a thousand words to say but he couldn't put together any of the right ones.

"I fell through the ice once, when I was a kid," Otabek said. He went back to pulling at Yuri's wet shirt. "I was even more out of it than you are." He got the fabric up to Yuri's arms, then stopped. "Can you lift your arms? You'll warm up faster if you aren't wearing these soaked clothes, but it's hard to get them off if you won't help."

Yuri raised his hands above his head—it shouldn't be so hard, he could do  _ fucking quads  _ with his arms raised—and let Otabek help him out of the shirt. Surprisingly, he  _ did  _ feel better without the damp fabric clinging to him. He was still shivering, though. Otabek noticed, and stepped away for a minute. When he came back, he draped a warm towel over Yuri's shoulders.

"Better?" Otabek asked.

Yuri nodded. Gradually, the shaking subsided. His body began to inform him of other discomforts—his hands were scraped raw, he had a set of new bruises around his knees, and the wet denim of his jeans was  _ really  _ starting to chafe. Not to mention he felt utterly ridiculous, sitting in a bathtub while Otabek hovered over him. "Beka, how long do I have to stay in here?"

Otabek held his wrist against Yuri's forehead. "Well, once your body temperature goes back up—we can't warm you up too fast, it would shock you. But you sound better, at least." He reached for Yuri's hand—Yuri felt sure he'd be blushing, if he hadn't already been red-faced from the cold—and inspected his bright pink fingertips. "It doesn't look like you got any frostbite here, anyway. Can I see your toes?"

"Sure, as long as you don't judge. I'm a figure skater, remember, so they're not exactly pretty..." Yuri stripped off his sodden socks—damn, that felt good—and wiggled his toes in Otabek's face. "See? Just as hideous as always."

"Mine aren't any prettier," Otabek said. He caught Yuri's foot and prodded gently at the toes. "These look okay too. You can feel everything all right?"

"Yes. Ow!" Otabek had brushed up against a half-healed blister.

"Sorry." Otabek released Yuri's foot. "I think you can probably get out of there, if you think you can stand." He stood and offered his hands to Yuri. "Do you want to try?"

"Fuck yes. If I don't get out of these jeans soon, all of my skin is going to fall off." It took him two tries to get to his feet, even with Otabek's help. And as much as he wanted to keep going under his own power, he found himself leaning against Otabek to stay upright. "Ugh. Good thing there aren't any cameras here. I bet I look like shit."

"You look fine, Yura. Now take your pants off."

"Wow, usually I make guys buy me dinner first—" Yuri started.

Otabek rolled his eyes. "Do you want me to help? You're not getting into bed in wet jeans."

"Who said I was going to bed? Maybe I'll just go back outside and skate some more."

Instead of answering, Otabek simply let go of Yuri and leaned back against the door. It took less than thirty seconds before Yuri's knees crumpled and he had to brace against the wall to keep from falling in a heap. "Fine, I get the point. But I can take my own damn pants off." 

In the end, Otabek did have to help him; tight wet denim was hard enough to get off when he could stand without assistance. "This is what I get for skating with jeans on," he grumbled. "Never again. Nothing is less sexy than wet denim."

Otabek snorted. "I think drowning in a half-frozen pond is probably less sexy, Yura." He hung Yuri's discarded jeans up to dry while Yuri wrapped himself in a bathrobe. "I was worried about you."

"Sorry, Beka." He wanted to say more, but he was too tired. He leaned heavily on Otabek as they left the bathroom, and didn't even have the strength to protest when Otabek scooped him up and carried him the rest of the way to the bed. But he  _ did  _ protest when Otabek started to leave.

"Where do you think you're going?" Yuri caught Otabek's wrist to stop him from moving any farther away. "You said you'd stay with me."

"I did?" Otabek hesitated by the edge of the bed. "I don't remember that, Yura."

"You did." Yuri tugged him closer. "When you carried me back to the house. I was pretty out of it, but I distinctly remember you saying you'd stay with me and keep me safe." Now that he was inside, propped up in bed and covered in a pile of blankets, he could think about those moments with a little more clarity. A lot of other things were clearer, too. "You promised, Beka. So don't you dare go away!"

"I was just going to get some tea, Yuri," Otabek said. "I thought it might help warm you up."

"Don't need it," Yuri said. He wanted a nap, and maybe another nap in front of the fire when he woke up from the first nap, but before he fell asleep he wanted something else. "You can keep me warm instead."

Otabek raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" He looked down at himself. "I don't know, Yura. My clothes are kind of wet, too."

Of course—he'd carried Yuri all the way home, dripping with pond water. It was a little surprising he wasn't shivering, too. "Well take them off," Yuri grumbled, "and get in here. You look like you could use a nap too."

Otabek hesitated, then shrugged. "I guess a nap wouldn't hurt. Hang on." He dug around in his suitcase and disappeared back into the bathroom. When he came out a few minutes later, he was wearing dry sweatpants and no shirt.

"Damn, Beka," Yuri said, He let out a low whistle. "That's one way to warm me up."

"Shared body heat," Otabek informed him, pulling the blankets down so he could crawl in next to Yuri. "It works best with no barriers between the skin." 

"Uh-huh. In that case, why are you wearing pants?" He meant to tease, but Otabek just looked thoughtful.

"Well, I suppose I could take those off, too," he said, reaching over to pull Yuri close. "But I'd kind of planned to wait until you were feeling better."

"Beka!" Yuri didn't know whether to die of embarrassment or jump for joy. "Do you...do you mean it?" He rolled over so he could rest his arms on Otabek's chest. He already felt warmer, though he wasn't sure if it was from Otabek's body heat or if it was the heat that simmered up in his own belly when Otabek's eyes met his.

"Yes. If you want to, of course," Otabek said. He reached up to brush Yuri's hair out of his eyes, and let his hand linger on Yuri's jaw. "We've been close for years, and I...well, this seemed like a good opportunity to ask. This trip, I mean." He chuckled, and the vibration of his chest buzzed all through Yuri. "I wasn't planning on you falling through the ice."

Yuri laughed too, and pushed himself up so their faces were level. "Neither was I. But if I'd known it would get you to make  _ that  _ offer, I would have done it a lot sooner." With that, he closed the distance between them and kissed Otabek on the lips. Otabek kissed back, winding his fingers in Yuri's hair and pulling him closer. Yuri only broke the kiss, reluctantly, because his arms were shaking and he thought he'd probably collapse onto Otabek if he didn't lie down soon. So he did just that, pillowing his head on Otabek's chest and curling the rest of his body as close as he could get it.

"All right, Yura?" Otabek asked. The words wrapped around him like a blanket. 

"Yeah," Yuri said. He was starting to drift off, even though he had pressing reasons to stay awake. "Better than all right. I feel warmer already."

**Author's Note:**

> Not pictured: Victor coming in to "check on them" and finding them cuddled up together. Several incriminating photos and much barely-contained squeeing later, Victor is the happiest man alive and Yuri is never, ever going to forgive him. XD


End file.
